


Christmas Eve

by Lunatasha



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 04:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5694475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatasha/pseuds/Lunatasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Momo finds out that Karin's spending the holidays alone she just had to invite her over, much at the expense of her brother it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Eve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rinusagitora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinusagitora/gifts).



> This is my hitsukarin secret santa gift for kxrahxna! I'm not sure it fully comes across in the fic itself, so I'll say it here, it takes place in student flats on a university campus. I hope you enjoy it!

“Hi, um, I'm sorry to bother you but do you have an egg that I could use? I'm in the middle of baking and I didn't realise that I didn't have enough.”

Karin blinked at the girl at her front door before snapping to her senses. She hadn't expected anyone to be knocking on her door as most people had left the campus for the holidays, much less to ask for baking ingredients. “Er sure, I think I have some in fridge.” She turned towards the kitchen before pivoting back round, “You can come in by the way.” The girl smiled at Karin and followed her to her kitchen, and ended up occupying herself by glancing around the room while Karin dug around in the fridge.

“I love your window decorations, they're really cute!”

Karin looked over to the paper snowflakes that practically covered the entire window. “Oh thanks, they were a flatmate's idea, all of us ended up spending a whole night doing them.”

“Oh that's such a nice idea.”

Karin turned round to face her, eggs in hand and a smile on her face, “Yeah until the next morning when you realise that there's glitter everywhere. Was it just the one egg you needed?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Karin took one out of the carton and handed it to the girl. “No problem,” she put the rest of the eggs back and closed the fridge, “So I take it you live next door?”

The girl spoke with a smile. “Well there's a flat in between this one and mine, but yeah pretty much. I'm Momo. I did try next door but no one's there at the minute, I was a little surprised you answered to be honest.”

Karin nodded. “Yeah I'm the only one in the flat right now.”

Momo's face fell a little. “Oh no you're not gonna spend Christmas all on your own are you?”

Karin gave an awkward smile. “Uh yeah, pretty much.”

“What? You can't be alone on Christmas! You should come over to mine!”

“What?”

“Yeah! Me and my brother are planning on doing Christmas stuff, you know, the traditional meal, Christmas movies, you should join us!”

Karin shook her head, “No no no, I wouldn't want to intrude on you guys, especially as you're family and all.”

“But to leave you all on your own-”

“No honestly, and Christmas isn't a huge deal to me anyway.”

“Still-”

“No really, it'd probably be awkward. Besides, my family is planning to try and skype with me for most of the day so I'll be fine.”

Momo nodded. “Ok, fair enough. Why don't you come over tomorrow then instead?” Karin raised an eyebrow at her. “I'd hate for you to be stuck in your room on your own for the whole holiday, and that way we both have Christmas with our families.”

“I...I don't know I mean-”

“It'll be fun! There's all sorts of stuff we could do, and we have way too much food at the minute anyway so you might as well come over.”

Karin still looked a little uneasy, but she did think it would be nice to be around other people for a little bit. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely!”

“And your brother won't mind?”

Momo shook her head. “I don't think so. I mean truth be told I think he might have minded if you came over for Christmas, but I don't see why Christmas Eve would bother him. Oh by the way, he can be a little awkward around new people, he's more on the introvert side of things, but he is really nice, I'm sure you'd get along soon enough.”

Karin nodded. “Ah, I'll keep that in mind.”

Momo grinned, and started to make her way back to the front door. “Great! Ok so come over after lunch at like 1 or 2 o'clock?”

Karin smiled back and started following her. “Sounds good.”

“We're flat 22, just round the corner.”

“Ok.”

Momo opened the door and leaned against it. “Oh by the way what's your name?”

Karin flustered a little, feeling awkward about completely forgetting to introduce herself. “Oh yeah uh, my name is Karin.”

“Well Karin, I'll see you tomorrow!”

Karin smiled, and gave a little wave as Momo took her weight off the door, ready to leave, “Yeah, bye.”

* * *

Karin felt a little nervous as she knocked on Momo's flat door. Should she have brought something to give Momo for inviting her over? Karin sighed, it was too late to worry about it now, hearing footsteps approaching the other side of the door. Not a second later Momo opened the door, dressed casually with an apron tied round her. “Ah Karin come in!” She gestured to Karin to follow her, “I'm in the kitchen at the minute, just finishing off the cake.”

“Is that what you were baking yesterday?”

“Yep! Just gotta finish the decoration now, it shouldn't take very long.”

Karin eyes widened a little when she saw the cake. It was relatively small, intended for only two people, but it had been perfectly covered in fondant icing, with intricate snowflakes drawn onto it. “Wow, that must've taken ages.”

Momo smiled as she picked up the piping bag lying on the kitchen worktop. “Hasn't been too bad actually. I have some experience when it comes to decorating though.”

“Oh?”

“I used to have a part time job in a cafe.” Momo continued talking as she started piping light blue icing, “I just worked the till, but one of the bakers in the back saw my sketchbook and asked me to try decorating. It took a little while to get the hang of, but after a while I ended up doing the smaller cakes.”

“Sketchbook? Are you an artist?”

Momo smiled brightly. “Ah well I wouldn't say that, but I do some painting and drawing here and there.”

“That’s really cool, I’ve never been that good at that kind of stuff.”

* * *

Karin didn't know why she had felt worried about coming over. Talking to Momo was really easy, and because they barely knew each other, there was a lot they could talk about. Over an hour later, with the cake finished and put away, the girls were still in the kitchen, Momo sitting at the table, legs resting on another chair and Karin sitting on the worktop opposite her, still talking.

“Yeah so at the time all I could- Oh hey!”

Karin turned her head to find a man standing at the kitchen door wrapped up in a coat and scarf, pulling it away from his face so he could talk without being muffled. “Hey.” He handed Momo a bag of what Karin assumed to be groceries. “Some things were out of stock but I tried to make it work.”

Momo got up and started pulling items out the bag. “Ah ok, thank you.”

The guy watched Momo put things away for a second before glancing at Karin and then back to Momo. Karin realised he was waiting for her to introduce them but with Momo being busy she spoke instead. “Hey, you must be Tōshirō.”

He nodded as he pulled his scarf off. Karin noticed that his cheeks were a little pink, presumably from cold.

“Oh sorry! Shiro, this is Karin, the girl I told you about yesterday.”

Tōshirō looked at Momo exasperatedly. “I told you not to call me that.” He sighed when he caught sight of Karin's amused expression. “Hi.”

Momo pouted at him. “It's such a cute nickname though.”

“Oh yes, exactly what I want.”

Karin burst out in laughter at that, drawing his attention and making him smile slightly. “I wouldn't worry too much about it, me and my sister gave a nickname to our older brother too.”

“He's actually my younger brother, he’s a second year.”

Karin turned to Tōshirō in shock. “Really? I never would've guessed.” Tōshirō wasn't particularly tall, might've even been a little under average height, but there was something in the way he carried himself that made him seem experienced. That along with broad shoulders and a well defined jaw line made it hard to believe he had only just turned nineteen (as Momo had reliably informed her). 

Tōshirō just nodded in response and looked away again. Karin inwardly groaned. The second he had walked through the door she knew she found him attractive, but seeing him getting all shy was practically the last nail in the coffin. Still looking away from her, Tōshirō shrugged his coat off and draped it over one of the chairs at the table. Karin raised her eyebrows at his physique, not at all hidden by the jumper he was wearing. “Do you use the gym on campus?” Karin cringed a little as she realised that her question made it obvious that she had been staring at him.

Now leaning against the table, Tōshirō flushed and looked down at the floor for a moment and nodded before managing to look back up at her again. “Sometimes. Why?”

Karin shrugged. “I've never used it, was wondering if it was any good.”

“It's a little on the expensive side, so I don't go a lot, but it's good.”

Momo, now finished with putting the groceries away, walked over to the two of them and joined Karin on the worktop. “He mainly plays soccer to keep fit.”

Karin looked over at him excitedly, “Really? I love soccer! The women's team was the first club I joined when I started this year.”

Looking pleasantly surprised (and still a little pink) he was about to reply when Momo got there first, grinning widely at him. “Wow. You know, I was kinda worried you two wouldn't get along with each other but I don't think he's ever liked someone so much so quickly.”

Karin looked at Momo in surprise. “Oh?” She watched as Tōshirō turned bright red, glaring at his sister and deliberately looking away from her. _Oh_.

Karin blushed a little herself, smile on her face as she looked at Momo. She definitely had to find a way to thank her for inviting her over now.


End file.
